One Step Forward, A Dozen Backwards!

The Americans are hoping to send their crew on different planets of the solar system. The Chinese are becoming leaders of the new world through technological advances. The Indians are building solar canals to generate electricity. Yet we as Pakistanis are nowhere in the race because of our laid-back approach, lack of education and incompetence of people we elect to represent us in the Parliament. As a progressive nation, we are taking more steps backwards than moving forward which is not a good sign at all.

Last month, the whole country was plunged into darkness and electricity was restored after a marathon 10-hour process. Last week, a residential area in Karachi was badly hit by a bomb blast that was heard across most parts of the city, and in which many people lost their lives and belongings. This week, the residents of the Christian-dominated Joseph Town in Lahore were looted and their houses were set on fire by hooligans who claimed that one of them (a Christian) had ‘allegedly’ committed blasphemy against the Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him). They are talking about the very Prophet who went to inquire the health of the woman who used to throw garbage on Him, the same Prophet who forgave most of his enemies after claiming victory at Makkah, and the same Prophet who taught us tolerance and rejected violence as a way to solve problems.

Such incidents remind me of Ku Klux Klan which targeted slaves and negros in America nearly 100 years back. Looking at the current situation in Pakistan it seems we are not behind much. In our country, minorities are treated as inhuman for no reason, and only selected Non-Muslims have managed to make it big, due to the system that favors majority Muslims. No wonder a couple of years back, most of the Hindus in Sindh tried to migrate to India in order to safeguard their families as well as their businesses, since they were harassed by hooligans for no reasons. The Hazara Tribe has been subject to target killing by insurgents who want to create havoc in the country. Similarly people belonging to Shia community are also being murdered regularly to create sectarian divide between Shia and Sunnis.

And now Christians are being made to contemplate leaving the country since it is not safe for them to live in. Last year the Ramsha Maseeh case dominated news, and although it was proven to be baseless, the Christians were hurt badly. We are talking about the very community which gave this nation its 4^th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (A R Cornelius), a handful of distinguished cricketers (Wallis Mathias, Duncan Sharpe and Yousuf Youhana) and many renowned personalities belonging to all walks of life. One must not forget their immense contribution to the education system in Pakistan as missionary schools have played an integral part in developing young minds in the country, who have done Pakistan proud both nationally, and internationally.

I blame the government for whatever has been happening in Pakistan since the turn of the century. Had both the national and provincial governments been sincere in maintaining peace, had the leaders been closer to public rather than hiding in their palaces, and had they appointed people on merit rather than facilitating friends, things would have been different. I also blame former President Musharraf for siding with ‘the lesser evil’ America, because that’s where things began to go wrong. How bad could it have been had he not taken that step, because we have lost more lives since then than America did in the fateful incident of 9/11. One can’t guess but I feel that Pakistan would have been a safer place had we sided with the neighbouring Afghans rather than the warring Americans who have done more harm in our country than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

What are we coming to in this country which Mohammad Ali Jinnah helped create in 1947? Are we really as bad as Jurassic Park, a term coined by former Indian Judge Markandey Katju recently. I believe we are worse than Jurassic Park because in the Michael Crichton novel (and later in the Steven Spielberg movie) there were more safety precautions in the park than there are in the cities of Pakistan! The general public is more of a sitting duck for terrorist because the politicians don’t give a damn whether the voter (or potential voter) lives or dies! We must remember this when we go to cast our vote, because electing tried and tested people will only increase our ordeal. We should take the right step, and end it, once and for all!